But after the heat haze burns off, and the leaves turn every hillside into a day-long sunset, and the ground grows hard and cold, who among them will still be standing? Round up the usual suspect -- the Ohio State Buckeyes.

It should be mentioned that Cincinnati is ranked too, at No. 18, but the Big East is the Mid-American Conference with bigger markets and a fading, but still measureably bigger, name. You cannot win 45-44 games and be considered serious contenders.

The cover of the magazine, featuring Buckeye defenders Cameron Heyward, Brian Rolle and Ross Homan, was a regional one, pitched to the Big Ten readership. The size-up of the Heisman Trophy derby, with OSU junior quarterback Terrelle Pryor, off one excellent game in the Rose Bowl, being proclaimed as the favorite was deep inside the magazine.

So the S.I. cover jinx really should not apply.

Still, the Buckeyes have tough road games at Wisconsin, against whom they have essentially stolen games the past two years, and Iowa, plus the Miami Hurricanes in the Horseshoe, not to mention a possible chance for fratricide -- this is your cue, Purdue -- if they take a conference opponent lightly.

But the Buckeyes should run the table, anyway, as they usually do.

The Big Ten has been in three BCS national championship games and won one. The Big Ten representative each time was Ohio State. The Buckeyes have won or shared five straight Big Ten titles.

The Buckeyes, in Jim Tressel's 10th season, are eight years removed from the national title season. This has the alumni grumbling, although the deck is stacked against northern teams. But the Buckeyes have momentum after winning a BCS bowl game, dominating Oregon in the Rose Bowl. In the Big Ten, it is the only bowl that really matters, besides the one for the national championship.

In many ways, not just the Oregon game, the Buckeyes have overachieved under Tressel.

It is true that Ohio State has huge advantages over the rest of the Big Ten (except for Michigan) in national visibility, quality of facilities and alumni base. Michigan, of course, cast its lot with a one-trick pony of a coach who runs the spread, an offense more suited to schools on the make than elite schools with a big recruiting net.

It is undeniable that the spread can work in the Big Ten. Why, Drew Brees took Purdue to the Rose Bowl with it in, um, 2001.

Tressel also benefits from the importance of high school football here, compared to much of the league. Ohio high school players are well-coached in the main. The strong relationship with Ted Ginn has made Glenville High School a critical Buckeye resource.

In football, Ohio is still what Indiana was in basketball in the days of the movie "Hoosiers." Every little town finds a source of community pride in the high school football team.

It is not that way in many of the big cities in the North, due to the cost of fielding a football team on a financially strapped budget. Glenville itself is something of the inner-city all-stars, while other Cleveland high school teams struggle with a couple of dozen players coming out for football.

Below the Mason-Dixon Line, the Hoosiers mind-set reigns in Texas, Florida and other states. In the big cities, such states enjoy advantages over northern schools because of the population shift in this country. A bigger talent pool provides more players who can swim in the deep end.

Still, Ohio State thrives.

Because of defensive orientation.

Because of attention to detail on special teams, where huge amounts of yardage are at stake. Tressel was almost distraught about Oregon's kick return success, despite the victory in Pasadena.

Because you can count the number of places tougher than the Horseshoe is on visiting teams on, like, no fingers.

Because power football is never out of style at OSU, and because such football can take opponents' hearts away.

The Browns have recycled futility and called it change for years. The Indians have made themselves inconsequential by their budget constraints. LeBron James left the Cavaliers. The Buckeyes remain.

Ohio State football is the fourth major sport in Cleveland. And gaining.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.